College counselling jobs require that the counsellor assess the student's strengths and weaknesses and letting the students know what colleges they realistically can and can't get into. The counsellor assists students with their career goals, clearly letting students know what the educational, skill and experience requirements for their favourite careers are. Counsellors are often the ones responsible for organising career fairs and actively work to facilitate networking opportunities where students can interact with professionals in their preferred careers. The university counsellor will make use of academic results as well as counselling sessions, and straight interviews to evaluate a student's general career interests and skills.
For you to be a successful college counsellor you need to be outgoing, patient, understanding, have strong communication and interpersonal skills and of course find fulfilment in your work. Even though there are a few ways in which university counselling jobs overlap with those student psychologists, it is Important to note that the two are distinct. If you are interested in pursuing college counselling jobs, there are a number of things that you need to pay careful attention to.
Academic requirements
To be a college counsellor, you need to possess a pertinent tertiary qualification preferably at a minimum of undergraduate degree level. The majors that will best position you for college counselling jobs are education, social work, psychology or counselling. For maximum effect, you can have your major degree in one then take a minor in either one of the remaining ones. Even though an undergraduate degree is acceptable, many college counselling jobs require that the applicants have a master's degree so it would be a good idea for you to consider furthering your education if you are to land the best university counselling jobs. Since counselling is a key strength required for the job, take time to attend workshops that can enrich your counselling skills.
Understand the day to day demands of the role
A college counselling job can be exerting especially when students are making their selection at almost the same time. Gathering real experience as to what the job entails before diving headlong into the industry is very important. Make sure you take up an internship or volunteer to work as a career advisor's assistant so you can understand what the job entails on a day to day. But this will also work well for you as you can include the time you spent as a student advisor's assistant as part of your work experience section in your resume.
Work your resume carefully
Any role that requires someone to interact with students in relating to their studies or careers needs a good deal of attention to detail. Even though the core of your resume might not be too different from the resume of someone applying for a job in any other vocation, there are things that will lower your chances of being called for an interview. Grammar and spelling mistakes on resumes or cover letters can be especially damaging for college counselling jobs; so make sure you read through your resume a number of times and have someone else do so before you eventually mail it.
Locate the jobs
The process of securing university counselling jobs is not too different from that of getting other jobs. So check the job classifieds and internet job boards for advertisements of such positions. Proactively contact the administration of schools in your area as you might stumble on a vacancy for which you are a perfect fit prior to its advertisement. Register with a reputable recruitment agency. You should also join professional associations such as the US National Association for College Admission Counselling (NACAC). Such associations are a powerful way to network with people already in the industry and find out what is required for the job.
